30.11.17

Trump poised to oust top diplomat Tillerson

US
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson poses with Germany’s Foreign Minister
Sigmar Gabriel(not shown) ahead of a bilateral at the State Department
in Washington, DC on November 30, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN

The White House has a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson and replace him with CIA chief Mike Pompeo within weeks, the
New York Times reported Thursday.
The newspaper quoted unnamed senior administration officials as
saying Trump had soured on Tillerson and was ready for a change at the
State Department, probably around the end of the year.
The two men have aired striking differences in public. Trump
surprised many observers when he tweeted that Tillerson was “wasting his
time” pursuing contacts with North Korea, and Tillerson was quoted as
having said — though he denied it — that the president was a “moron.”

The former ExxonMobil executive has also defended the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump last month disavowed.
It was not clear Thursday whether the president had given final
approval to the reported cabinet changes. The White House did not
immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Under the plan, which the paper said was developed by White House
chief of staff John Kelly, Pompeo would be replaced at the CIA by
Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas and an important Trump
ally on national security issues.
That could leave Republicans with another seat to defend in the 2018 elections.